U.S. Dollar Rises As Traders Await FOMC Minutes

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar strengthened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Wednesday, as traders await the minutes from May's FOMC meeting due later in the day.

Traders will review the minutes from the Federal Reserve May meeting later in the day for fresh insight into how Fed officials are thinking through monetary policy at a time of greater macroeconomic uncertainty.

The greenback started rising after the U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to delay a threatened 50 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union and data showed U.S. consumer confidence rebounded sharply in May after a prolonged decline.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index rose to 98.0 in May, up from 86.0 in the previous month (up from 85.7). This reading indicated an increasing optimism among U.S. consumers.

Investor appetite for safe-haven assets such the USD remains buoyed by persistent fiscal challenges in the United States, economic concerns, and geopolitical tensions.

In the Asian trading today, the U.S. dollar rose to an 8-day high of 144.77 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 144.14. The greenback may test resistance around the 149.00 region.

Against the euro, the pound and the Swiss franc, the greenback advanced to 5-day highs of 1.1296, 1.3461 and 0.8292 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1337, 1.3514 and 0.8272, respectively. If the greenback extends its uptrend, it is likely to resistance around 1.11 against the euro, 1.32 against the pound and 0.84 against the franc.

Against the Australia and the Canada dollars, the greenback climbed to 5-day highs of 0.6426 and 1.3839 from Tuesday's closing quotes of 0.6448 and 1.3810, respectively. The greenback may test resistance around 0.63 against the aussie and 1.40 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, the Federal Labor Agency is scheduled to release Germany's unemployment for May at 3:55 am ET in the European session. The jobless rate is seen unchanged at 6.3 percent.

In the New York session, U.S. MBA mortgage approvals data, U.S. Richmond Fed manufacturing index for May and U.S. Dallas Fed services index for May are slated for release.

At 2:00 pm ET, the Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is set to be published.